Cheshire Cat

[ShunnerOfHugs]

Grapefruit, red currant, dark musk, Roman chamomile, delphinium, and lavender.

 

This smells nice and sweet in the bottle, but on me it just smelled like musk and chamomile. It was nice, but a little heavy for me. But if you like musk, or if your skin doesn't amp it up a ton and you like the other notes, you'll probably really like Cheshire Cat.

[Cali]

Tangy, tangy grapefruit, very sharp lavender... I'm almost afraid to put this on my skin.
Once applied, there's something (green?) in there that I'm not a fan of. The musk amps and I'm not sure what to think of it. On the swap pile it goes!

Edited April 13, 2016 by Cali

[Kay Torres]

Very sugary grapefruit and lavender. Not the best description for one of my favorites, but that's what it smells like on me.

[joopjoop]

I haven't had much luck with the Tea Party scents - I guess this just isn't my collection.

 

The chamomile and lavender - both notes I like in some blends, take the grapefruit in this one to a very sharp place on me. I find it refreshing and somewhat invigorating, but even after a few hours I don't get the musk or the currant to round out and ground the scent for me.

 

Sadly not for me, but on someone with different skin chemistry I think this would be lovely. I may hold on to the imp and use it as a room refresher - it is very bracing!

[spikyfairy]

Source: Frimp from the Lab, fairly fresh. Not something I would have picked out for myself, as I suspect I don't like citrus on me..

 

Wet: Fruity & herby & a little minty (?) all at once, which is giving me a bit of a bathroom-cleaner vibe.. Very "fresh". Getting fruitier as it dries, but all I can think of is.. fly-spray! I tend to use "natural" cleaning & household products, and this stuff smells exactly like some "environmentally friendly" fly-spray I bought once..! I think it's the combination of citrus & lavender (very common in hippy cleaning products).

Dry: Every now and then I catch a whiff of throw which is actually quite nice (soft musky chamomile), but at my wrist it's still citrusy fly-spray.. Damn scent associations! Improved with wear, I actually quite liked it after an hour or so, but it was also mostly gone by then. Rather weak - I used up about half the imp just for this one test.

Confirmed for me that I really don't like wearing citrus smells. Used the rest up in an oil burner, and it was nice as a room scent. Just smells too much like something from my cleaning cupboard to put on my body..

[roseus]

This dries down to a light grapefruit, barely sweetened by musk and the bitterness is tempered by the lavender and chamomile. I get just a touch of tart current. It's quite beautiful, and I think may be a bottle purchase!

[lizabelle]

Well, I can safely say now that I love BPAL's grapefruit. It's zingier and juicier than most I've smelled before, with much less bitterness. In this it takes over quite a bit at first, but then the herbs warm up and start to temper it. The chamomile note in this is impressively true-to-life, and the lavender is subtle and more herbal than floral. I've never smelled delphinium on its own before but there is a soft floral in there somewhere, and musk; I'm not sure I'm smelling the current, but it may be blending with the grapefruit. It's a bright salmon pink scent.

 

I don't know that it's a full-bottle scent for me--as far as grapefruit-heavy blends go, I liked Baobhan Sith better--but I'm really enjoying it. It's like a spritz of citrus in a cup of herbal tea.

[renfair]

I got this as an imp, I think maybe part of a lot I'd ordered? Anyway, it came randomly but it was one I'd really wanted to try for a little while. I've never been a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland (barring the stint I did at about four years old of watching the Disney cartoon every single night for a month, and then also loving that live-action musical that was on TV in the late 80's, that I mainly re-watched when I was older for the completely awesome 80's commercials my grandmother hadn't cut out--thank goodness--when she taped it off TV for me ...) but I'm finding myself really loving most of the Mad Tea Party scents.

First Sniff Impression: Fruity, incense tea. Unisex leaning toward masculine.

Wet in Vial: The grapefruit is really nice, but there's enough other scents going on to keep it in the background. It's a sort of floral, citrus-y, herbal mix. It's really pleasant.

Drying Down on Skin: The grapefruit--with I think the red currant, cause it's not just pure citrus--come right out. But the underlying musk and lavender are really interesting. Not so overtly masculine now, it would be a really nice unisex scent.

Dry on Skin: Dry this has just all blended together so well. The grapefruit seems happy to "play nicely" with the others, leaving a sort of sweet green blend. It's fruity, herbal, floral, and tea-ish all at once without being able to pick one any one specific scent. I'd love to smell this one a guy.

Conclusion: This scent finished as a sort of spiced fruit tea. It also had very good lasting strength. I could still smell it on my wrist when I woke up the next morning, after applying in the evening. I don't like it enough to buy a big bottle, but I definitely want to keep an imp around.

[Lucchesa]

As the name might well imply, this one is very fugitive on me, disappearing except for a hint of a grin within 30 minutes or so. I'll keep the imp as it's a nice wake up in the morning scent - grapefruit always is for me - but I won't be buying a bottle.

[achildoftime]

It's very sweet grapefruit with currents making sure it doesn't go too bitter and stays fruity sweet in the beginning. Grapefruit is a note I love but it doesn't have the greatest staying power. It doesn't stay the sharp and lively grapefruit I love for very long, but that doesn't mean that it just disappears. There are chamomile notes that are much more apparent now that the grapefruit has burned off. it's much more like a fruity, lemon tea with a little sugar. I like it quite a bit, but I do wish it were a little stronger.

[Mufasa]

I’ve tried Cheshire Cat both fresh and aged a few years (in an imp) and while I think both are nice, I definitely prefer fresh over aged. The initial scent is always a hit of grapefruit but the aged version smells like a drier less refreshing grapefruit more like a sundried grapefruit... if that exists... however while I love the first hour of wear for both versions but afterwards my skin just rejects it, the beautiful citrus turns into a rancid almost vanilla-ish smell but not a good vanilla, a weird warped rotten vanilla... so sad.

[gloame]

This is quite pretty and a little bit crazy smelling. It’s soft and harmonizing, but as you inhale deeper, there’s a little bit of tart craziness in the grapefruit and musk. Very lovely!

 

ETA 1.24.18:

I didn't love this the first time I tried it, but it has grown on me since then. It's still very mint and fruit (I now see the mint is actually chamomile+lavender). It's both calm and vibrant. Paradoxical.

 

Where I'd wear this: Brunch on the coast, high summer.

[h_yeti]

Received Cheshire Cat as a frimp and would never have picked it from the notes, but I really love it! It's primarily a sweet grapefruit scent on me, with some soft herbs and musk hanging out in the background. I don't usually go for citrus scents because I find them a bit too sharp but the sweetness (maybe from the red currant?) really calms the grapefruit down. I can't really pick out the lavender, chamomile or delphinium on my skin, they just sort of form this cohesive, subtle herby-ness. Really nice, will probably pick up a big bottle for summer as I can see myself wearing this one a lot! Just realised the dark musk is reminding me of Bewitched slightly, but sadly the blackberry in that one made it feel too shampoo-like for me to enjoy.

[donkehpoo]

How the heck have I not reviewed this?!

 

Wet: GRAPEFRUIT. The grapefruit is strong, and lets you know it's there without any doubts. There's a little bit of sharp lavender in the background.

 

Dry: Grapefruit is still the main note. The lavender is still there, but it's much softer now. I think I'm getting just a hint of chamomile as well.

 

This is one of my favorite summer blends. If you like grapefruit and your skin doesn't eat it up, give this a try!